Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, took to social media platform X on Wednesday in an open plea urging "all warring parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire" to help control the Ebola outbreak.
"Eastern DRC now faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response," Dr Tedros wrote.
"Stopping this Ebola transmission depends entirely on humanitarian access. Yet ongoing clashes are driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors. Frontline workers are risking everything, while attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible."
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is at the epicentre of a deadly Ebola outbreak that has strained public health systems and is spreading faster than the response to contain it. The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has no approved treatments or vaccine.
The country had reported 101 confirmed infections, 930 suspected cases and 221 suspected deaths as of May 25.
The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after suspected cases and deaths climbed sharply across eastern Congo.
Screening and quarantine for travellers
India’s first suspected Ebola case tested negative for the deadly virus, the country’s health ministry said on Wednesday, after a traveller who recently arrived in the country from Uganda developed symptoms and was isolated.
The 28-year-old woman was kept in isolation in the southern city of Bengaluru after she reported mild symptoms of body aches following her arrival from the African nation this month. The tests had been conducted as a precautionary measure, according to India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Indian airports have been screening travellers from affected countries, and some city hospitals have been designated for quarantining and treatment across the southern Indian state of Karnataka, according to media reports.
Thailand has imposed a mandatory 21-day quarantine on people travelling from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, as the Southeast Asian travel hotspot becomes the first country in the world to implement such strict measures.
Canada is also set to impose a quarantine starting May 30 on anyone who has been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan within the previous 21 days. Those without symptoms will need to quarantine for three weeks, while travellers who exhibit symptoms will be isolated at a hospital for further assessment. The measures are in place until August 29.
